Hey there,

I'm an experienced cash game player on the low stakes live and online. My local casino offers an Road to PSPC event, aprox. 600 players, 360+40 € buy in, 3day structure AND pokerstars puts 30k $ PSPC package on top.

How do I approach this, since I know very little about tournament poker? I'll be rather comfortable in the early stages, but shallow stacks is not my natural habitat. Is there general advice, you could give a cash game player or some educaional recourses that cover the basics?

I'm familiar with ICM and the broad strokes of mtt strategy. Any particular advice, since this tournament is super top heavy due to the pokerstars package?

Yes, just play your normal 'cash' game style in the early levels. I'm not sure how they get a 3 day structure mixed in there, but if it truly is that long then there should be plenty of 'play' as long as you have chips in front of you.

Typically there are 'weeder' levels in tournaments where quite a few Players will be eliminated and/or forced to press the action. Some Players say to keep an eye on the average stack on the screen while others say you just need to focus on your stack and table in hopes of continuing on.

Once you get down below 30bb you should really start to snug up your ranges a bit and definitely be aware of position. You don't want to get too shallow (10bb) since if you need to shove from EP you have little fold equity. In a lot of cases it's just better to shove 'any' Ace than to open with it and try to win a hand.

Since you can't seat change just be aware of Player styles and especially their stack size so you don't get trapped into spots where you're basically stuck calling off more than you really want to.

More than likely 'any' bet (down bet) will get a lot more respect in a tournament than in a cash game, so don't feel the need to over-value your marginal hands.

LOTS of Turns go ck-ck in a tournament IMO as this keeps the pot size under control. Rarely will you get 3 streets of value so you've got someone who has ck/c both Flop and Turn, then you may just want to get to Showdown instead of a thin value bet that you will have to fold to a raise/shove if it comes to that.

Position is huge and opening raises will decrease dramatically once the average stack gets to 40bb or less .. like 2.2x is plenty, even with antes/dead chips in middle.

I think the worst thing a cash Player can do when playing in a tournament is trying to figure out how to play 'tournament' poker. Just play your game and make adjustments based on your table.

Oh, and .. it's hard to make a pair .. so when 'all' the stacks start to get shallow don't be so sure that 2nd or 3rd pair aren't good in some spots. As I said, LOTS of Turns go ck/ck and if you have position on the River you will pick up a lot of pots at Showdown to c-bets that shut down once you make a Flop call. GL

Thanks a lot for the detailed Feedback. Was very useful. Kind of suprised how low the level of average play was on day one. Finished with just 15bb, which is about have of what average is.

Still I have to say its so different from Cash Game and you need to seriously need some Run good to get itm. To me ist sometimes felt like a glorified lottery. Especially now with just 15 bb its double Up ur go Home empty handed.

I really prefer Cash Game in Terms of hourly, Game complexity and the role luck plays in the game.

I'm wondering what kind of buy ins you would have to play to do this for a living. 1k+?

Any special advice for my upcoming day 2? I had two spots toda, openpushing for 20bb, since it sucks to play medium pockets this shallow Postflop. Is this alright or a little over the top?